sound studio locking up during recording

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decibully
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sound studio locking up during recording

Post by decibully » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:27 pm

I recently bought an iBook G4 with 256MB of RAM and have been trying to record live performances at the club i do sound for. i'm using Sound Studio, the bare bones recording software that came installed with the computer and an M-Audio Duo USB interface.

The problem I'm having is that the software momentarily freezes at random times for a few seconds. The input meters and the time clock both stop then resume again. It'll playback fine but jump a few seconds past the frozen segments of the program. Some nights it's worked without a hitch but other times it does it every 5 min. or so.

Is the problem with the software, the interface, not enough ram?

thanks for reading.

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Mr. Dipity
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by Mr. Dipity » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:43 pm

IANAMU but that sounds like RAM to me.

(When I saw the topic, I assumed this had something to do with the studio violence threads, and heightened security.)

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decibully
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by decibully » Tue Jan 11, 2005 6:25 pm

thanks for the tip...

your response has prompted 2 new questions:

1. what the hell does IANAMU mean?
2. what song inspired such a whimsical dance?

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Mr. Dipity
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by Mr. Dipity » Tue Jan 11, 2005 6:55 pm

decibully wrote:thanks for the tip...

your response has prompted 2 new questions:

1. what the hell does IANAMU mean?
I Am Not A Mac User
2. what song inspired such a whimsical dance?
(I think) the song of a gormless hack with a listless 'music industry' day job, along with a noseful of cocaine:

http://modernmusician.info/index.php#post-10


However, IAJSLAH.





I Am Just Spreading Libel And Hearsay.

Rigsby
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by Rigsby » Wed Jan 12, 2005 6:45 am

It's funny, i've seen that avatar so much that now my head thinks that's you.
The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

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midiot
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by midiot » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:34 am

Buffer settings possibly? I dont know. Im not a Mac person.
boom-ptch-boom

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decibully
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by decibully » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:06 am

thanks people-
Ima go buy some RAM.

BTW my avatar is photo of myself just after "logging out of my B drive"

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AnalogElectric
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by AnalogElectric » Wed Jan 12, 2005 3:12 pm

Welcome to Mac tweak hell.

I'm running Nuendo on a G5 dual 2.0GHz with 1GB RAM and I still have a few issues and tweaks. Mine does the same thing but not to your extreme.

There could be different factors regarding your situation that are not exclusive to just one fix:

First off, get more RAM (sounds like you're already on that tip). The iBook can have up to 1.25GB and I'd suggest loading it up to that. You can never have enough RAM but only up to the computer will allow.

Second, how many tracks are you recording at the same time? The M-Audio Duo is two analog according to its specs so I'd say it's just two then. Make sure the drivers are updated for OS X and your OS X is software is fully updated to OS 10.3.7

Third, what sample rate? This is where RAM could be having a problem is if your sample rate is too high. If you're running it at 96kHz you're rendering around 2MB per second (according to my settings/hardware i/o's at least for 2 tracks real-time analog recording).

Fourth, some issues with screen resolution has been a factor with Macs. If your audio program suggests a resolution I'd change it to the suggested settings. Sometimes the uproc has problems with prioritizing audio and high resolution screen monitoring.

Fifth, and probably the most important after getting more RAM, play around with buffer settings while in record mode. I import 24 analog tracks in real-time and that takes a lot of processing in order to keep up. If you're having problems with just two tracks at once do what I do: set the buffer as low as it can go without clipping or distorting the rendered tracks. I can get mine down to 128 Samples when recording tracks. When I go to mix/master the recorded tracks I bump it back up to 1028 Samples so any kind of plug-ins I use will be more stable.

Lastly, the only other tweaks I could think of is if you're monitoring the tracks at the same time they're being recorded via the same audio card or are you monitoring via headphones on the M-Audio? I'd suggest not listening or rather disengage any sort of "post" monitoring as this could slow down the uproc as it's trying to render and present tracks on the same audio card. After you know a Buffer Sample Rate that works you'll have to trust the tracks as they're being recorded if the computers ASIO driver is being overloaded.

I think that's about it... a lot to chew on and try but once you get into the guts of how the system works it should prove to work a little cleaner for you.

Let me know if you still have any more problems or if you'd like me to clarify anything I stated.

--Adam Lazlo
AnalogElectric Recording
Gilbert, Arizona USA
http://www.analogelectric.com
http://www.myspace.com/adamlazlo

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decibully
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by decibully » Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:04 pm

GREAT!!

Thanks Adam. I'll see how it goes after my RAM arrives and you were right about the DUO and monitoring situation I don't have to montior, just look at the meters as I'm just using 2 condensors in the room. Seems like you've got alot of experience.

Thanks for sharing!

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AnalogElectric
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by AnalogElectric » Wed Jan 12, 2005 6:02 pm

decibully wrote:GREAT!!

Thanks Adam. I'll see how it goes after my RAM arrives and you were right about the DUO and monitoring situation I don't have to montior, just look at the meters as I'm just using 2 condensors in the room. Seems like you've got alot of experience.

Thanks for sharing!
I don't have a lot of computer recording exp but when I FINALLY went to the 'puter for a hybrid sorta thing I wanted to know every in and out cuz time is money (and reputation). If ANYTHING else if you're still having problems let me know and I can help (to the best I can without actually being there to troubleshoot). Worse case scenario is you could skip the 'puter for live 2 track and invest in a 2 channel mic pre (Neve reftro'd 1272 or Manley) and a 24bit DAT machine or 24bit CD-R rack burner. Considering you invested in the iBook you should be fine as long as you play around with the settings as you go along. Believe me it'll all make sense once you get in to the guts of the system while understanding why it works the way it does or is supposed to. Macs are a bit twitchy but are solid machines but with a little component level of "why" and "how" helps greatly.

Let me know how it works out for you (with the extra RAM) cuz I'm sure there are others interested.

-- Adam Lazlo
AnalogElectric Recording
Gilbert, Arizona USA
http://www.analogelectric.com
http://www.myspace.com/adamlazlo

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apropos of nothing
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Re: sound studio locking up during recording

Post by apropos of nothing » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:23 pm

FWIW, a friend of mine's got a powerbook and one of those M-Audio 410 (I think) firewire converters. He's been having problems. Seems like the drivers aren't entirely happy with something in his system.

I thought Macs were supposed to be free of these problems? hee hee.

Anyway, that said, more RAM couldn't but help.

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